28. Bambusa.] 97. GUAMINEM. 



Spikelets terete. 



Stems offlspitose. Palea cymbiform. An- 

 thers obtuse . . . . . 1. Tulda. 



Sterne ecattered. Palea ovate. Anth. tips 



long apiculate or penicillate . . .2. nutans. 



Spikelets compressed. Culms often yellow . 3. vulgaris. 

 B. Stems with armed often leafless branches at 



least below . . . . .4. arundinacea. 



1. B. Tulda. Roxb. Pepe siman, K. (/. Gamble), Makor, 

 Mai Pah. 



A large caespitose bamboo 2-4" diam., internodes 1-2 ft., 

 white-ringed below the nodes, with walls £-J'' thick. Stem 

 sheaths 6-9" by 8-10", narrowed upwards, tip rounded or sub- 

 triangalar ; blade hairy within with long-fringed auricles. L. 

 6-10" by f-lf", base rounded. 



Cultivated, and perhaps wild in the Santal Parganahs (but see remark 

 under B. nutans.) Fls. sporadically and gregariously. 



L. glabrous or hairy beneath, glaucescent. L. sheaths with an oblong 

 often long-fringed auricle. Spikelets 1 -2 bracteate polished, sessile, 1-3' 

 long, in" distant loose heads or half whorJs on the glabrous branches 

 of the panicle. Empty gl umes 2-4, Fl. -glumes 4-S, £-1" long with many 

 distinct nerves. Keels ciliate, tip penicillate, 3-5-nerved between the 

 keels. 



Used for building and basket making. 



2. B. nutans, Wall. 



Thi» bamboo is scarcely distinguishable without flowers from the 

 last, it is said however to be recognized by the scattered culms and to be 

 less hairy and bristly than B. Tulda. A bamboo common on trap rocks 

 in the Bajmehal hills and cultivated by the Paharias agrees in these 

 particulars with B. nutans better than with B Tulda, but it is evidently 

 the species from the S. P. which in the Cal. Herb is called B. Tulda by 

 Gamble. B. nutans is ordinarily considered to be confined to the Hima- 

 layas and Assam. My field notes are as follows : — 



Culms about 3-4 7 diam. with internodes 18 7 not caespitose. Stem 

 sheaths 8-12'' densely covered with black deciduous bristles at back. 

 Blade triangular " acuminate with rather small fimbriate auricles. L. 

 softly downy (white when dry) beneath, with scaberulous margins, ending 

 in a twisted scabrid point. Base generally obtuse or sub-acute, not 

 cordate, rarely rounded but attenuate into the distinct -J-'' petiole j nerves • 

 8-9 each side of mid-rib. 



584 



